The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-06-09
CONTRACT FOR THE SALE OF
HULLESS OATS.

.......................lSS. :.
do hereby agree to buy from Mr..............
County Of........ State off,.
All Hulless Oats raised from. bushels of
said Oats purchased and owned by said .........
on or before the.......day Observation-Disclosures.
1884,. at So cash per bushel
This contract void if any of the rules govern
ing the sale and purchase of said oats (Which
rules are made part of this contract are in
any way violated.
In testimony whereof have hereunto set my
hand the day and year above written.
Farmer A is enticed into his beautiful
scheme. He gives his note. and receives
ten bushels of oats and the above contract
properly filled out and signed by the swim
dler. When the following fall comes and
the crop is gathered the sWindler punctu-
ally fulills his engagement. 1t is by no
means his wish to appear in his true light
yet. He is working for bigger game If
he has agreed to take the entire crop he
does so. If he has agreed to buy only
twenty bushels he does that. Then he calls
upon the farmer to go among his neighbors
and bear testimony to the swindler's
square dealing and the splendid opportu-
nifty offered of selling oats at a fabulous
price. The neighbors, having every conf
dence in A, who probably believes all the
praises of the smooth.tongued stranger,
readily buy A IS whole crop from the swim
dler in small lots of ten, twenty or fifty
bushels. The swindler gets the cash if he
can. If not, he takes Farmer BIS note
made payable to Farmer A. IT, for eX-
ample, he has sold B ten bushels he gets
BIS note for 800 payable to A. This he
carries to A, who accepts BIS note and
pays the swindler $25 in cash as the CON-
mission agreed upon.
These farmers are all men owning acres
of unencumbered land and other property
Their notes are perfectly good. The banks
call them ''gilt-edged, and discount them
| readily.
When the third year comes around the
swindlers do not come back, unless they
think they can find enough victims to buy
the crops of the second year S set of dupes.
Of course this process might be kept up
| for several years, but the second year usu-
ally sees all the swindlerS' contracts dis
honored, the bubble burst and thousands
of farmers pushed to the wall to meet the
notes they have given and which are by
that time in The possession Of the county
banks or of lesser spectators of paper.
ORIGIN AND EFFECT OF TIE SCHEME.
This swindle originated in Ohio, and
after being driven out Of that State has,
within the last few years, invaded Penn
sylvania. Centre county has already been
heavily raided. Berks county has suffered
and the sharpers had arranged to attack
Y
1t was in 1856 that the 6 Bohemian
oats y adventures began their operations
in the Cumberland Valle7. They were
headed by James Boyd. atall, black bearded
man, who lived many years ago in Hope
we'll township, and who came back to tell
his former neighbors what magnificent
scheme this was and how much money he
had made out of it himself. With him and
after him came other men, among them c..
Z. Kintz, w. l.. Rogers. George f. Bailey
and Henry Roller. All of these men made
their headquarters at Carlisle. All of
them but one are still there. Others of the
oat swindlers who have departed, but who
are believed to be at work in other parts of
1.-The State, are w. B. Smith, E. S. Clark,
Adam Heilman, 81. Patterson and M, G.
Peterson.
Some of the effects of the raid made by
these swindlers upon the valley are becom-
ling painfully apparent. Two years ago the
commercial houses did not know a better
Ifeld into which to send their travelling
men. Drummers drummed the valley from
end to end. It's riches were overlooking
Local merchants were liberal in their or
ders, and the farmers, whose crops are the
basis of all the prosperity of the valley
bought freely on credit. At the end OF the
year the farmers promptly paid their store
bills and the local stores as promptly pai(
the wholesale houses off in the big cities
Already all this is different. Trade j!
almost paralyzed. Collections that should
have been made last fall are still unmade
There is talk of sueing all around, even i
the wholesale houses have as result tt
lose their trade here. The festive drum
mer is infrequent and the rural merchan
signs as he looks over his long columns o
unpaid book accounts.
That this condition of affairs is mainl
due to the withdrawal from the farmers 0
nearly half amilion dollars for Bohemia
oats y almost everybody agrees. Some 0
this money has within the last year bee
dumped into little annex the swindler
have added to their game. This is the sal
of Golden Coin Wheat The process
the same as with the oats only $3.50
bushel is charged for the wheat, who's
! only superiority is the glitter of its name
Delicate diseases of either sex, hoWeve
induced, radically cured. Address, wit